The Australian Olympic Committee has endorsed the International Olympic Committee's postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games until next year and explained some ramifications for Aussie athletes.
AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said that existing qualifications of athletes would be honoured, while other sports yet to complete their qualifying processes would now be able to do so beyond the scourge of the coronavirus outbreak.
"The events that have been held for those qualifications are done. It is only those sports which are still yet to hold qualification events because of the COVID-19 virus ... those ones will continue," Carroll said on Wednesday in Sydney.
"This actually helps those sports, because they now can plan with a bit more surety and time to get their qualification events done."
A total of 43 athletes are already qualified. Carroll said that he expected the size of the Australian team to be unaffected by the virus outbreak and subsequent Games postponement.
"It would be closer to 500 [athletes], the largest team we've ever sent," he said.
"All the athletes that have qualified remain qualified and those who haven't, we're working with their sports to ensure we can get the best opportunity to do so."
Carroll said that many things were impacted by shifting the Olympics from their usual four-year cycle, especially with regards to athletes; many of whom run their preparations on meagre resources.
"I'm very conscious of perhaps the financial difficulties that some of the Olympic athletes are in, so we'll be working through that in the coming weeks as well, about what this means," he said.
"Because this has never happened before. The Olympic Games have been cancelled twice due to World Wars, but never postponed. It's a new world.
"It doesn't mean that the 2024 Games move, it doesn't meant the Winter Games of 2022 move. It just means we've got an Olympic Games next year. We'll adjust to that and support the athletes."
Carroll said that a "well-being online service" would be launched next week to better support athletes and urged them to "keep your spirits up".
Australian chef de mission Ian Chesterman added in an AOC statement: "Our key message [to athletes] at the moment though is to stay safe and keep those around you safe. There are some tough times ahead but at least we now know we have a new goal and the planning will start straight away."
Carroll admitted that it might be difficult for athletes to be in peak condition next year if they had tailored their preparation entirely towards a 2020 Games.
"Therein does lie a challenge for the high performance structures in Australia and our sports, to work with our athletes to meet those challenges," he said.
"If you're talking about the ones who have been selected [already] ... I am sure all selected athletes will be working hard to be at the 2020 Games in 2021 [in peak form]. That's their nature, I have no doubt about that.
"The message to the athletes that have qualified is exactly that. You have qualified, keep training, keep working.
"It's hard at the moment. This crisis will pass, I'm sure of that, as we all are. Once the crisis passes, they'll be able to get into their training again."
Carroll backed Japan to put on "the greatest Olympic Games ever" in 2021, yet said that Japan faced massive logistical obstacles to shifting the Games. The Games were supposed to start on July 24 this year.
"It's a huge logistical challenge for Japan, but of any country that I know of who can meet that challenge, it is certainly the Japanese," Carroll said, adding that the Olympics next year could serve as a beacon of hope amid the COVID-19 crisis.
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/news/olympics-postponed-aoc-response-coronavirus-covid-19/d5fd769e-3e7a-4518-bcfc-b77532a14687
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